S.Agostino e le ambiguità della storia romana

Augustine’s attitude towards Rome must be compared with that of Ambrose: the bishop of Milan was conditioned by his reference author, Cicero, and by his social background – he had been a Roman consularis; thus he warmly appreciated the Republican Rome; Augustine too was conditioned by his reference author, Sallust, and by his social background – he was an African country-dweller: thus his opinion on the Roman past is deeply negative and Rome can be classified as the heir of Babylon within the civitas hominum; however this opinion is in contrast with his patriotism: he refuses to place Rome on the same level with the previous empires, which are defined magna latrocinia; he justifies all the wars fought by the Romans, because they were bella iusta; he believes that every expansion of the Roman empire is good. From a metahistorical viewpoint Rome is obviously depreciated in front of the civitas Dei like every other earthly entity, but within the human history it can be considered the best realization of the civitas hominum.